Labor Day differs in every essential from the other holidays of the year of
any country. All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with
conflicts and battles of man’s prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed
and power of glories achieved by one nation or another. Labor Day…is devoted to
no man, living or dead; no sect, race, or nation.—Samuel Gompers

Peter J. McGuire, a young carpenter, stood before New York’s Central Labor
Union on May 12, 1882, to suggest an idea of setting aside one day a year to
honor labor. His idea was simple. The day should "be celebrated by a street
parade which would publicly show the strength and esprit de corps of the
trade and labor organization."

"No festival of martial glory or
warrior’s renown is this; no pageant pomp of war-like conquest …
attend[s] this day. It is dedicated to Peace, Civilization, and the
triumphs of Industry. It is a demonstration of fraternity and the
harbinger of a better age—a more chivalrous time, when labor shall be
best honored and well rewarded."—Peter McGuire

The trade unionists, enthusiastic about the idea, quickly established a
committee to plan the event. The committee chose the first Monday in September
because "it would come at the most pleasant season of the year, nearly midway
between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, and would fill a wide gap in the
chronology of legal holidays."

McGuire, a man of many talents, became known as the "Father of Labor Day." He
was born into a poor family on July 6, 1852, in a Lower East Side tenement in
New York City. His working career began at the age of 13. He held many different
jobs and was quoted as saying, "I have been everything but a sword swallower…and
sometimes I was so hungry, a sword—with mustard, of course—would have tasted
fine."

Unwilling to accept his lot in life, McGuire found time to study at Cooper
Union where he met his lifelong friend, Samuel Gompers. McGuire became
interested in the labor movement at 15, when he took a job at a piano factory
where the workers had affiliated with the carpenters union. He quickly learned
his job, but he also learned about the Socialist International Workingmen’s
Association.

He spent the next 8 years devoting his time to organizing in the Socialist
movement. McGuire’s life became cemented within the labor movement on Jan. 13,
1874, when he marched to Tompkins Square in New York to protest the treatment of
workers left jobless from the depression of 1873. Police attacked the thousands
of protestors and beat them to the ground. McGuire was beaten along with his
friend Gompers. From that date on, McGuire and Gompers devoted their lives to
organizing workers.

In 1878, McGuire moved to St. Louis to lobby for the St. Louis Trade and
Labor Alliance. His efforts established the first U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics.

Then, he moved back to New York. There he set off on the long road of
establishing a national union for carpenters and a national federation for all
organized workers. In 1881, his hard work paid off with the formation of the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. He became secretary of the
organization—which was the highest position within the organization—and editor
of the union paper.

McGuire then turned to forming a national federation. He would call the first
national convention in Chicago on Nov. 15, 1881, which led to the formation of
the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and
Canada. Five years later, with the help of Gompers, the organization became the
American Federation of Labor. Gompers became the president and McGuire the
secretary.

When, in May 1882, he stood up before the New York group, McGuire earned
himself his place in labor history books. On Sept. 5, 1882, 10,000 workers
participated in the first Labor Day parade in New York. The idea quickly caught
on and by 1884, every major city held a Labor Day parade.

McGuire, along with other labor dignitaries, then lobbied for a national
holiday. His dream became a reality on June 28, 1894, when Labor Day became a
national holiday by an act of Congress.

Although McGuire is generally recognized as the "Father of Labor Day," the
claim has raised some controversy. Twenty-one years ago, the granddaughter of
Matthew Maguire came forward to claim her grandfather was the real "Father of
Labor Day." Maguire, a machinist and one-time secretary of the Machinists Union,
had also been part of the Central Labor Union of New York City in 1882.

However, according to published reports of the time, the evidence clearly
backs Peter McGuire as the "Father of Labor Day." Peter McGuire, who helped
organize the 1882 meeting, was one of the keynote speakers for the event. Three
separate papers, The Carpenter, Truth, and The Irish World, quote
him as making the proposal publicly that an annual holiday be declared as
labor’s own and that it become universal.

In November 1887, McGuire published in The Carpenter details of the
events leading up to the September 1882 rally.

Matthew Maguire, however, never claimed to be involved and did not contest
McGuire’s claim to fame.

To McGuire, being known as the "Father of Labor Day" was nothing compared to
his fight for the 8-hour workday. The Carpenters Union, of which he was
secretary, presented a resolution to the Federation of Organized Trades and
Labor Unions in 1884, which stated, "eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s
work from and after May 1, 1886." The resolution passed.

This launched the drive across the country for the shorter workday. Workers
rallied in cities all over the nation. Thousands of workers took to the streets
of their cities, and many workers died for the cause. One such event would
become known as the "Haymarket Incident" in Chicago.

The concept of an 8-hour work day did not begin to take hold until 1890, when
46,000 members of the Carpenters Union began working 8-hour days, and an
additional 35,000 reduced their hours from 10 to 9.

The rigors of office took their toll on McGuire, and he resigned his position
in 1902 because of poor health. McGuire died in 1906 at the age of 54. His last
words were, "I’ve got to get to California, the boys of Local 22 need me."

The New York Labor History Association provided this article by Sharon K.
Williams, who writes for The Labor Paper, Peoria, Ill.